Encouraging Health

Here’s a novel weight-loss strategy. Before you take one single bite, think about your last meal — every detail.

It may sound silly, but there’s science behind the idea. People in a study who thought about their last meal before snacking munched less. So before your next nibble, picture your lunch plate.

Mind over Matter
It made no difference how tempting the treat. When people were asked to remember what they had for lunch that day prior to eating a popcorn snack, they ate less of the munchy stuff — regardless of whether it was seasoned or served plain. All of which suggests that appetite may be linked to food memory cues.

Daily Strength for the Dieter
Give yourself some superhuman willpower with these tricks for resisting dietary temptations:

Scrap the three squares . . . and eat smaller, more frequent meals:

The Six-Meal Diversity Deal

Are you still stuck in the three-meals-a-day mind-set? Many people get hung up on the misconception that eating anything beyond their allotted three meals per day constitutes a failure of dietary willpower.

Although it’s true that eating empty-calorie snack foods between meals is no recipe for health, limiting yourself to the traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner feeding format may not be doing you any favors either.

Forget between-meal snacking. Forget three squares a day. Your new recipe for healthy eating: six is better than three.

It sounds like a contradiction, but with a focus on diversity and proper portion size, eating six mini meals per day instead of three larger meals can help you feel fuller, eat a more varied diet, and be healthier overall.

Nosh on whole-grain bread with olive oil before a meal.

Take a nap.

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Fresh, crunchy cucumbers are not only low in calories and high in fiber — they’re also full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that can feed your complexion from inside and out. Here’s how:

Refresh and protect. Cucumbers contain vitamin C and caffeic acid, two antioxidants that, when applied to the skin, help fend off wrinkles, sun damage, and more. Vitamin C builds collagen and elastin, protein fibers that give skin its youthful plumpness. “Caffeic acid inhibits cancer cells and protects skin cells exposed to UV radiation,” says New York dermatologist Amy Wechsler, MD. No wonder many spas offer hydrating face treatments made of crushed cucumber. Home version for kitchen divas: In a blender, barely puree half a cucumber and 2–3 tablespoons of plain yogurt — it should be thick, not drippy. Pat all over your face and neck, sit back for about 15 minutes, then rinse, and relish how good your skin feels.

Deflate puffy peepers. Chilled cucumber slices act like delicate mini ice packs, relieving puffy eyes. One reason: Cukes are 90% water, which helps them stay chilly even on hot spots. “Their cold minimizes the swelling by constricting the blood and lymph vessels that bring fluid to the eye area,” says Dr. Wechsler.

Get the red out. Cucumbers’ natural anti-inflammatories calm and soothe skin reddened by rosacea or sunburn. “Place thin, cold slices on the ‘butterfly’ region of your face, starting around your nose and spreading out onto your cheeks — or anywhere there’s redness,” says Dr. Wechsler. After a 15-minute lie-down, remove, then apply a light moisturizer. Alternatively, try Peter Thomas Roth’s Cucumber Gel Masque, one of those cult beauty products that, even at $45, gets rave reviews from ordinary users.

Pamper every inch. If you’re feeling adventurous, try this super skin softener used in Korean bathhouses. Grate a whole cucumber — including the dark green peel, which is rich in skin-friendly potassium, magnesium, and copper, says Dr. Wechsler. Stir in just enough milk and safflower oil — two other skin wonders — to make a thick soup, and warm it in the microwave. Then, using a loofah, scrub down your whole body with the mixture and shower off (make sure your drain’s got a good strainer). Your skin will feel satiny soft, and your bath and body will smell amazing. There’s a reason Kiehl’s sells a cucumber essence oil.

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Whatever their color, bell peppers are brimming with age-fighting antioxidants. But which bell has the most — red, orange, yellow, or green?

If you’re going to pick just one, you might be better off red. A study recently showed that reds were the bell of the ball when it came to disease-fighting phenol content.

Phenol Defenders, and More
Phenols aren’t the only feather in a red bell pepper’s cap. According to another study, red bells are also highest in vitamin C — that mighty antioxidant that helps keep your skin and blood vessels young.

Color Me Healthy
But don’t chuck your green, yellow, or orange bell peppers. For maximum benefits, you want a colorful and diverse diet — so you get the broadest antioxidant protection.

Pep Up Your Health with Peppers

Love sweet red, green, and yellow bell peppers? Know which are most healthful?

The red and yellow ones — they have almost twice as much vitamin C as their green siblings. And getting an ample supply of C is credited with reducing the risk of stroke, one of the most common causes of death and disability in Americans.

Researchers have found that people with the lowest amounts of vitamin C in their diets have a 30 percent greater risk of having a stroke compared to those with the largest intake of C. So when you’re grocery shopping, pick up a few extra bell peppers. Midsummer is prime season for them — they’re sweet, cheap, and abundant. Still, you can eat only so many peppers. For variety, reach for other high-C foods: papaya, strawberries, cantaloupe, citrus fruit, and broccoli are all-stars when it comes to this potent vitamin.

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We’ve got a surefire way to keep the happy feelings pouring in. And you don’t have to inhale.

Just grab your workout shoes and get going. Research now confirms it: Sustained aerobic exercise can give you a natural high.

Happiness Is All in Your Head
Researchers recently noted all sorts of endorphin activity when they studied the brain scans of people who’d gone for a 2-hour run. Their emotion- and mood-controlling brain regions were particularly saturated with the feel-good hormones. But you don’t necessarily have to run marathons to boost the natural mood-enhancing chemicals in your blood. In fact, you might not need to run at all.

30-Minute Mood Makeover

A better mood may be a mere 30 minutes away.
Research shows that regular exercise helps alleviate depression and improve well-being over the long term. Now a new study suggests that the mood-enhancing benefits of physical activity may be apparent after a single 30-minute workout. The next time you feel down, grab your gym shoes and give yourself the gift of a 30-minute power walk.

In a recent study, a single 30-minute treadmill workout done at moderate intensity eased depression and increased energy levels. In the study, participants were randomly divided into two groups. People in one group were asked to walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes, exercising at 60 to 70 percent of their maximum heart rate, as determined by age. The other group rested for a period of 30 minutes. Both groups reported relief from depressive symptoms afterward, including a reduction in confusion, anger, distress, and fatigue. However, those who exercised reported significant improvement in their sense of well-being, a benefit not expressed by participants assigned to 30 minutes of rest. Although many kinds of depression may respond to exercise, severe depression may require professional intervention in the form of counseling, medication, or both. If you’re feeling depressed, see your healthcare provider for an evaluation.

For more information on exercise and mood, browse Encouraging Health.

Nothing reduces your number of fat cells — not even weight-loss surgery

Want to get rid of some fat cells as you age? Fat chance.

You’re stuck with the number of fat cells you have acquired by about age 20, a new study finds.

Researchers have known that people gain and lose weight at least in part by changing how much fat is in their fat cells. The new finding is particularly important for obese people, who the researchers say can have twice as many fat cells as their lean counterparts.

The finding also suggests that obesity in adulthood is at least partly determined by diet and exercise in childhood.

Strange study
To determine the age of fat cells in 35 subjects, researchers focused on a marker found in fat cells — radioactive carbon from above-ground nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s and 60s. More of a naturally occurring but rare type of carbon, called carbon-14, was produced during the testing.

Bruce Buchholz, a chemist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., explained how his team used this marker to make their discovery.

Our bodies incorporate carbon-14 from the food we eat, along with the vastly more abundant types called carbon-12 and 13. Since carbon-14 from the testing is decreasing with time as it mixes with the oceans, the amount of rare carbon-14 that a cell has taken up is like a timestamp for when the cell formed, Buchholz said.

The researchers knew that cells were dying and being replaced over time, because people born before the nuclear testing had fat cells that were created after the testing. The scientists also found that about 10 percent of fat cells were replaced every year whether or not a person was obese.

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The number of troops diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder jumped by roughly 50 percent in 2007, the most violent year so far in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon records show.

In the first time the Defense Department has disclosed a number for PTSD cases from the two wars, officials said nearly 40,000 troops have been diagnosed with the illness since 2003, though they believe many more are likely keeping their illness a secret.

“I don’t think right now we … have good numbers,” Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker said Tuesday.

That’s partly because officials have been encouraging troops to get help even if it means they go to private civilian therapists and don’t report it to the military. The 40,000 cases cover only those that the military has tracked.

Officials have estimated that roughly 50 percent of troops with mental health problems don’t get treatment because they’re embarrassed or fear it will hurt their careers.

An accounting of diagnosed cases released by Schoomaker to reporters Tuesday shows the hardest hit last year were Marines and Army soldiers, the two ground forces bearing the brunt of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Army reported more than 10,000 new cases last year, compared to more than 6,800 the previous year. More than 28,000 soldiers altogether were diagnosed with the disorder over the last five years.

The Marine Corps had more than 2,100 cases in 2007, compared to 1,366 in 2006. They have had more than 5,000 PTSD cases diagnosed since 2003.

Schoomaker attributed the big rise partly to the fact that officials started an electronic record system in 2004 that captures more information, and to the fact that as time goes on the people keeping records are more knowledgeable about the illness.

He also blamed increased exposure of troops to combat. Factors increasing combat exposure in 2007 included President Bush’s troops buildup, increased violence in both wars and the fact that a number of troops are serving their second, third or fourth tours of duty — a factor mental health experts says dramatically increases stress.

In order to supply enough forces for the buildup, officials also extended tour lengths to 15 months from 12, another factor that caused extra emotional strain.

Schoomaker said he believes PTSD is widely misunderstood by the press and the public — and that what is often just normal post-traumatic anxiety and stress is mistaken for full-blown PTSD cases.

Experts say many troops have symptoms of stress that can be managed with treatment and should not be confused with cases that go untreated for a long time and those that develop into a mental disorder.

The Pentagon had previously only given a percentage of troops believed affected by depression, anxiety, stress and so on — saying up to 20 percent return home with such symptoms. A recent private study estimated that could mean up to 300,000 of those who’ve served have symptoms.

Lets hope the Military gives these Military personnel proper care.

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Check out this natural, easy, and enjoyable way to keep your hunger in check: Eat long, liquid fats.

This type of fat helps turn off hunger signals and sate your appetite, so you eat less overall. Invite a few to every meal.

The Long Way to Full
What’s a long, liquid fat, you ask? According to John La Puma, MD, author of ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine, these fats have lots of carbon molecules adding to their length. More importantly, they produce cholecystokinin (CCK) — a lovely hormone that tells your brain, “You’re full now. You can stop eating.”

Long and Short of It
You’ll find long-chain, liquid fats right where you might expect — in the healthiest of foods. Good sources include fatty fish (salmon, trout), nuts and seeds (walnuts, flax), and plant-based foods (avocado, olive oil). You should not only eat more of these kinds of foods but also jettison the short-chain, solid fats (read saturated fats) at the same time. Why? Because not-so-healthy fats actually make you hungrier, according to La Puma.

More Hunger-Nixing Notions
Naturally, we all wish we could keep our hunger in check sometimes, and lose a few extra pounds in the process. Here are a few more tricks to try that won’t leave you feeling like a hunger artist.
Eat breakfast — every day.

Here’s how it will help you fight off the munchies:

Wake-up Call

Eating breakfast may tame your appetite and help keep your blood fats in check.

Breakfast eaters consume fewer calories throughout the day and have better blood lipid profiles and insulin sensitivity than breakfast skippers, a recent study concludes. Low-fat yogurt with fruit, granola with skim milk, or whole-grain toast with peanut butter are all great choices to start your day.

Easy, healthy breakfast choices include egg-white omelettes with sautéed veggies, low-fat yogurt, whole-wheat toast, nuts, fruit, peanut butter, low-fat cheese, or smoothies made with berries and low-fat soymilk. These foods can help keep your blood sugar levels stable and give you the nutrition you need for the day. On the other hand, high-calorie donuts, pastries, and sugary cereals may offer little nutritional value. They may give you quick energy, but you’ll feel sluggish after your blood sugar takes a dive. Skipping breakfast altogether may contribute to blood sugar instability as well.

Other ways to fight muchies:

Grab a few sips of water before you hit the snack cupboard.

Ditch anything with corn syrup in it:

Here’s why: High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), used to sweeten everything from the obvious (soft drinks) to the obscure (ketchup, salad dressing, bread), can trip up digestive system hormones that control hunger and appetite. The end result: Your brain misses out on hormone messages that signal a full stomach. Start reading labels and see if you can cut back on the 63 pounds of HFCS most people consume each year.

Your digestive system has two main hormones that control hunger and appetite. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach and increases your appetite. When your stomach’s empty, it sends ghrelin out, requesting food. Leptin tells your brain that you’re full. HFCS inhibits leptin secretion, so you never get the message that you’re full. And HFCS never shuts off ghrelin, so even though you have food in your stomach, you constantly get the message that you’re hungry.

For 10 more ways to fight off the munchies, email me with the subject “How can I fight the Muchies?”.

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Feeling a little bad about all the time you’ve recently spent in the sun? Here’s news that might help take some of the edge off.

New research suggests soaking up a little sunshine here and there might actually help strengthen your immune system. Seems counterintuitive — and more research is needed to confirm the theory — but here’s how it goes . . .

Bright, Sunshiny News
Although rates of skin cancer — as well as several other types of cancer — tend to be higher in sunnier latitudes, cancer patients in these regions seem to fare better when it comes to fighting the disease. Their secret defense? Researchers think it might be the extra vitamin D they score from living in a sunnier clime. (Vitamin D is that stuff your skin manufactures when exposed to sun.)

Here’s how D revs up your immune system:

Is vitamin D powerful enough to go head-to-head with cancer?

Yes, according to a growing body of evidence. High levels of vitamin D have been found to protect against several kinds of cancer, particularly those of the digestive system: mouth, throat, stomach, and colon. While many of us think we get plenty of vitamin D from milk or a multivitamin, it turns out that the best source is the sun. Its rays trigger your body to produce the nutrient, and a 10-20 minute stroll each day yields an abundant dose.

The resulting cancer protection is impressive. Study participants with high vitamin D levels had 43 percent fewer digestive-tract cancers, 29 percent fewer cancer deaths, and 17 percent fewer cancers overall. Although vitamin D is readily found in salmon, mackerel, herring, tuna, and sardines, as well as fortified milk and supplements, sun exposure won hands-down as the best source, because just a little light produces so much D.

How much of the sunshine vitamin do you need? About 1,500 IU each day to reap the protective rewards seen in the study, which is about how much a daily 10-20 minute walk produces. By contrast, a glass of milk has only 100 IU of D, and 3.5 ounces of salmon has 360 IU. Even the recommended daily dose is comparatively low: just 400-600 IU. But many public health experts are calling for the recommendation to be raised to 1,000-2,000 IU, the current upper limit considered safe for adults.

To get your daily dose of sun while minimizing skin risks — you don’t want to trade one cancer for another — walk in the morning or afternoon, when the rays are less intense. And try applying a sunscreen just before you leave the house. Because it takes about 15-30 minutes for chemical sunscreens to kick in, by the time it starts working, you’ll have gotten your daily D.

But Be a Sensible Sun-Body
Your body makes vitamin D from the sun faster and more effectively than it soaks it up from food and supplements. Still, you need to minimize your exposure to harmful UV rays, especially during the sun’s peak hours (10 a.m.–4 p.m.). All you need is about 10–20 minutes of sun to get the D you need for the day. One option: Apply your SPF just before you head outdoors. By the time it kicks in, you’ll have gotten a quick but ample dose of D.

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Pack some onions and arugula betwixt your turkey burger and bun today. It’s a delicious way to help protect your pancreas.

Seems these two veggies not only add tasty, gourmet-style crunch to food but also fill you up with potent nutrients thought to help thwart pancreatic cancer.

Dynamic Trio
In an 8-year study, people who consumed the highest levels of three powerful flavonols — kaempferol, quercetin, and myricetin — reduced their risk of pancreatic cancer by 23 percent. Not too shabby. And no doubt due to the fact that this super trio of flavonols helps quell oxidative stress, a cell-damaging process that, left unchecked, may pave the way for cancer and other bad health news.

Other Super Sources
Onions and certain leafy greens like arugula are one way to get these particular flavonols. Here are some others:
Kaempferol: kale, swiss chard, endive, raw spinach, chives, and white beans

Quercetin: asparagus, apples, buckwheat, and tea

Cinnamon-spiced apples are wrapped in nutty buckwheat crepes for a delicious brunch treat.

Makes 6 servings

ACTIVE TIME: 45 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 3/4 hours

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

Crêpes
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2/3 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup beer
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon peanut oil, plus extra for preparing the pan
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup water

Apple Compote
1 tablespoon butter
3 pounds Golden Delicious apples (8 apples), peeled, cored and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch ground cinnamon

1. To make crêpes: Combine flour, whole egg, egg white, milk, beer, 1/4 cup sugar, oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla, salt and water in a food processor; process until smooth. Transfer batter to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. (The batter should be the consistency of heavy cream. If it is too thick, stir in 1/4 to 1/3 cup water.)
2. To make apple compote: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, swirling the pan, until the butter is a light brown, about 30 seconds. Add apple slices and sprinkle with 1/3 cup sugar. Cook, tossing occasionally, until the apples are tender and lightly caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. To cook and fill crêpes: Heat an 8-inch seasoned crêpe pan over medium-high heat until a drop of water dances on the surface. Using a paper towel, rub the pan with a little oil. Ladle about 3 tablespoons of the crêpe batter into the pan and swirl to coat the bottom evenly. Cook until the underside is lightly browned, 30 to 45 seconds. Loosen the crêpe with a spatula, and quickly turn over with your fingertips. Cook until the bottom is lightly browned, 20 to 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter, rubbing pan with more oil when necessary, and stacking the crêpes as they are cooked.
4. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil an 11-by-7-inch or similar shallow baking dish or coat it with cooking spray.
5. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the apple compote along the center of each crêpe. Fold in quarters and arrange the crêpes in the prepared baking dish. Bake, uncovered, until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes.

Myricetin: fennel, blueberries, cranberries, and carob flour

Snack on these crunchy, cheesy Fennel & Parmesan:

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It happens to the best of us — the overindulgent weekend.

And if your coming-attractions calendar doesn’t already include at least one bachelorette bash, a big wedding, and a few summer cookouts, it soon will. So what’s a person to do when these parties pop up in the middle of swimsuit season?

Go. Have a blast. Forget the diet. Just implement a before-and-after contingency plan “to help you get back on track, so that your lapse doesn’t become a collapse,” says British diet and fitness guru Joanna Hall.

In her new book, The Weight Loss Bible, Hall serves up a buffet of ideas perfect for getting you through a 48-hour bridal extravaganza, Labor Day weekend, or no-guilt getaway with your girlfriends — and leaving you able to still fit into your jeans on Tuesday.

Eat less, sweat more the day before and after. “If you know you’re heading for a weekend of excess,” says Hall, “squeeze in a workout and eat 300 fewer calories the day before the partying begins.” Same goes for the day after. But don’t punish yourself by skipping a meal — it’ll just make you cranky and hungry. Limit portions or forgo a snack (a blueberry muffin or small bag of potato chips each have about 300 calories).

Curb carbs at lunch and dinner. Hall is known throughout the UK for her Carb Curfew diet, which means “no starchy carbs — bread, pasta, rice, potatoes or cereal — after 5 pm.” And for food-filled weekends, she suggests turning the carb cutoff back to noon. Why? “Chances are your fat intake will be higher on these days, pushing up your calorie intake, and with party food, it’s often easier to avoid carbs than fatty foods.”

Drink up! Lots of water, that is. A boozy weekend can leave you dehydrated and too hungover to stomach your usual workout. Hall’s advice: Drink plenty of water during and after endless cocktail hours or a wild weekend. As for postparty exercise, go for a walk instead of doing a full workout, “especially if you have a sore head!”

Eat a big bowl of veggie soup. “Foods with a high water content help stave off hunger and make you feel full. Studies show that dieters who follow this advice tend to stick to their plan without feeling unsatisfied or deprived.” So before you leave home, slurp up a big bowl of vegetable soup.

Shake your booty. “Sometimes you just have to go out and burn a little more energy,” says Hall. But here’s the good news: Dancing is one of the all-time best calorie burners. So get out there and cut yourself a big ol’ slice of rug. You’ll wind up boogying away a few hundred calories before the night is through.

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