Encouraging Health

Smoothies — the health-food junkie’s alternative to the milk shake — have been around for decades (by some accounts, since the advent of the Waring blender in 1936). Today, there are probably more smoothie recipes on the Web than YouTube members. But beneath that nutritious veneer of fruit and yogurt can lurk some serious calories — and as much sugar as a fast-food shake.

As recipes go, smoothies are easier than pie: The basic serves-two recipe is 1 cup liquid (milk, soymilk, yogurt, juice, sherbet, ice cream, water, or a combination) and 1 1/2 to 2 cups fruit. Here’s how to be your own smoothie operator without piling on pounds.

1. When a recipe calls for yogurt, milk, or ice cream, opt for the fat-free and no-sugar-added versions. Why? One 8-ounce, fat-free, artificially sweetened vanilla yogurt has 110 calories, while its low-fat version has a whopping 240!

2. For richer flavor and fewer calories, try replacing regular milk with unsweetened almond or hazelnut “milk” (sold in many groceries as well as health-food stores) at only 50 to 110 calories per 8 ounces (versus 150 for milk). Some brands are calcium fortified, too, so you don’t lose out nutritionally.

3. Not nuts about nuts? Stick with skim milk, and kick up the flavor with ice cubes made from your fave juice or tea. They’ll also thicken up your drink.

4. Using frozen fruit? Read the label and choose unsweetened versions. Add your own sugar or low-cal sweetener if needed.

5. Want to add some healthy oomph? Mix in wheat germ or ground flaxseeds to boost nutrition and fiber.

6. Try this batido — the Cuban version of a smoothie from Eating Well.

Blueberry-Banana Batido
1 ripe banana, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon sugar
4 ice cubes
1 cup buttermilk
Combine banana, blueberries, sugar, ice cubes, and buttermilk in a blender and blend until smooth.

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There may be a newly discovered bonus to good blood sugar control: better recall.

Turns out that Alzheimer’s disease and the #1 blood sugar disorder, diabetes, share something in common — something that wreaks havoc on normal brain function: lack of insulin.

Not All in the Genes
A long-term Swedish study revealed that too little insulin ups Alzheimer’s risk. Men with low insulin secretion at age 50 had a significantly greater risk of the mind-robbing disease — as well as other types of dementia — later in life. One caveat though: The link was strongest in men without the gene that predisposes people to Alzheimer’s.

What It Means to You
Exactly how an impaired insulin response bumps up Alzheimer’s risk isn’t clear. But it definitely underscores the importance of diabetes prevention efforts.

Being active is a big part of living a healthy lifestyle. It offers up many health benefits. This is true for people of all ages and especially true for people with or at risk for pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes. Check out the benefits of being active, how much activity is best for you and get a few tips to become more active now.

Top 10 Benefits of Being Active

Improve blood glucose management. Activity makes your body more sensitive to the insulin you make. Activity also burns glucose (calories). Both actions lower blood glucose.

Lower blood pressure. Activity helps your heart pump stronger and slower.

Improve blood fats. Exercise can raise good cholesterol (HDL) and lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides. These changes are heart healthy.

Take less insulin or diabetes pills. Activity can lower blood glucose and weight. Both of these may lower how much insulin or diabetes pills you need to take.

Lose weight and keep it off. Activity burns calories. If you burn enough calories, you’ll trim a few pounds. Stay active and you’ll keep the weight off.

Lower risk for other health problems. Reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke, some cancers, and bone loss.

Gain more energy and sleep better. You’ll get better sleep in less time and have more energy, too.

Relieve stress. Work out or walk off daily stress.

Build stronger bones and muscles. Weight-bearing activities, such as walking, make bones stronger. Strength-training activities, such as lifting light weights (or even cans of beans), make muscles strong.

Be more flexible. Move easier when you are active.
Just How Much?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is put out every few years by the federal government. These Guidelines were revised in 2005 and for the first time they suggest how much activity Americans should aim for. Read through these below. Keep in mind, they are goals, not the place to start. Note that the American Diabetes Association (ADA) supports these Dietary Guidelines and believes they are good advice for people with diabetes or those who want to prevent it.

People with pre-diabetes, diabetes, or the general adult public should aim for a minimum of 30 minutes most days (Walking, gardening, doing yard work, swimming, or cleaning house will all work to meet this goal. Anything that increases your heart rate and causes you to break a light sweat.)

Children &, teens should aim for at least 60 minutes most days.

The Diabetes Prevention Program — a large study done in people with pre-diabetes — showed that 150 minutes of physical activity a week (30 minutes, five times a week) helped prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. In this study, people also lost 10 to 20 pounds by making changes in their eating habits.

Do these guidelines seem hard to fit in to your busy life? It’s not easy to find the time. You won’t go from zero to thirty or sixty (minutes), in a day or week. Take one step at a time. Slowly build up to your goal.

First, Doctor’s OK

Most adults without medical problems don’t need their doctor’s OK to exercise. But because people with pre-diabetes and diabetes may have a heart or other diabetes-related problem, ADA suggests you get your doctor’s OK. Talk to your doctor about your plans for activity. Learn from your doctor how to stay safe while you exercise.

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Any fan of Mexican food is familiar with cilantro. But here’s something you may not know about it: The pungent green could fend off gut-cramping illness.

Potent compounds in cilantro appear to be quite a match against a strain of salmonella common in food poisoning.

Bacteria Busters
When salmonella invades your gastrointestinal
tract . . . well, we won’t go into graphic detail. Suffice it to say that it can quickly spoil a summer outing! But chopping some cilantro into your pool-party salsa just might keep the dip safer, thanks to the strong antibacterial action of substances in the green. And add extra onions to your salsa for good measure. They help battle salmonella, too. (Video: Get tips on chopping onions without the tears.)

Food That’s Fit to Eat
Keep your picnic and barbecue foods from turning on you later with these other tips:
Don’t go by looks. Ground beef can be undercooked even if it’s brown.

Wash, wash, and wash again. Wash your hands before you cook, wash fresh produce before preparing, and wash the food prep area when you’re done. And use plain soap and water.

Brown Ground Beef: Is It Done?

If you’re part of the grill-it-till-it’s-brown crowd, looks could get your gut into serious trouble.

Meats can turn brown well before they’ve reached a safe internal temperature, especially if they’re pale and soft (think pork and ground beef), salted (think marinated), or they have spent a long time in your freezer. Here’s how you’ll know when meat is done.

Don’t Judge by Color
Meat — especially ground beef — can look thoroughly cooked even though its internal temperature might not be high enough to kill dangerous foodborne pathogens, such as E. coli (what’s that?). Anything that alters the pH level of meat will affect how quickly it browns, including storage conditions, seasonings, and thawing methods.

Safe Numbers
Use a food thermometer to ensure that your beef, fish, and chicken reach the temperatures set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
Steaks, roasts, and fish — 62.8 degrees C (145 degrees F)
Pork and ground beef — 71.1 degrees C (160 degrees F)
Chicken breasts — 76.7 degrees C (170.1 degrees F)

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So you grabbed a bag of chips, and a short while later, you were down to the crumbs. How’d that happen?

While you’re figuring that out, here’s how you can stop it from happening again: Practice mindful eating. There’s a growing army of slim people singing this savor-the-moment practice.

Your Mantra:
Relax, Focus
To teach yourself how to eat mindfully, start with a raisin. Take a deep, relaxing breath as you pick it up. Look at it for a few seconds. Smell it. Place it in your mouth and roll it around on your tongue. Feel the wrinkles. Now bite. Note the chewy, gritty texture — the sweet, fruity, astringent taste. Extract all the flavor before you swallow. That’s kind of the idea with mindful eating — to savor the look, smell, texture, and taste of every bite. And it works! It had a huge impact on curbing chronic binge eating in a recent study.

A Few More Ways to Eat Less
While you focus on every bite, give these other appetite-control tips a try, too:

Eat more. Yep, you heard right.

Think “mini meal.”

Drink a glass (or two) of water. It could be all you need to satisfy a craving.

Don’t hide it. People who see the evidence left over from a snack or meal — like candy wrappers or chicken bones — don’t eat as much.

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.

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Experimental shot stopped plaque, but not dementia, researchers say

Some doctors have long suspected that if the plaque that builds up in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease could be removed, they could be saved. But a new vaccine that did just that suggests the theory is wrong.

British researchers gave 64 patients with moderate Alzheimer’s disease an experimental vaccine designed to eliminate plaque from their brains. Some patients were followed for up to six years.

Autopsies on seven patients who died of Alzheimer’s during the study showed that nearly all of the sticky beta-amyloid protein thought to be dangerous had been removed. But all patients still had severe dementia.

“It may be that these toxic plaques trigger the neurodegeneration, but don’t have an ongoing role,” said Clive Holmes of the University of Southampton, lead author, in a press statement. The study was published Friday in the medical journal, The Lancet.

The study was paid for by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, a British charity.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia and affects about 25 million people worldwide.

Other experts said that the study’s findings pointed to a major gap in our understanding of the disease. Doctors have never been sure whether the brain plaques are the cause of Alzheimer’s disease or just a side effect.

“We still don’t have enough understanding of what we should target,” said Dr. Bengt Winblad, director of the Alzheimer’s Centre at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. Winblad was not connected to the study.

Brain tangles may play a role
Aside from the plaque build-up, scientists also think that tangles of another brain protein called tau play a major role in Alzheimer’s. Because those tangles form later than the plaque, some experts think they should be the focus instead.

“It may be harder to get a response from targeting plaque because that forms years before people actually have Alzheimer’s,” said Dr. Simon Lovestone, professor of Old Age Psychiatry at King’s College in London. “By the time you do something, it may be too late.”

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While you’re helping your significant other get slathered up with sunscreen this weekend, throw in a little bonus gift: a skin check.

You see, there’s a benefit to being this close. Couples with tight-knit bonds are more likely to carefully check each other’s skin for moles, bumps, and other worrisome marks.

I’ve Got Your Back
Skin self-exams can catch melanoma and other skin cancers early, when treatment has the best shot. And in a study of melanoma survivors, couples in close relationships were about three times more likely to do the skin-check deed. A partner can help with hard-to-see spots, too — like your back and your scalp.

Patrol your skin in 6 easy steps
Now that you have a better idea of what to look for and what’s at stake, it’s time to patrol your skin for potentially cancerous lesions. Getting to know what’s normal for you is the best place to begin. The better you know your skin, the more likely you’ll be able to notice if there are any changes. Learn where your birthmarks, freckles, moles, and blemishes are and what they usually look and feel like.

The goal of a skin self exam is to look thoroughly at all areas of your body, so you’ll need a well-lit room with a full-length mirror plus a hand mirror and a blow dryer. The bathroom is generally an ideal location. In addition, it may be easier to do your skin exam with a partner, if you wish.

1. Look at the front and back of your body in a mirror.
2. Look at your left and right sides. Raise your arms and bend your elbows. Look at your underarms, forearms, the back of your upper arms, and your palms.
3. Sit down and look at the back of your legs and feet, the spaces between your toes, and the soles of your feet. (Think about the times your soles may have been sunburned as you lay on your stomach.)
4. Use a mirror to examine the back of your neck and scalp. Use a blow dryer on a low setting to examine your entire scalp.
5. Use a hand mirror to examine your back and your buttocks.
6. Finally, take photographs of any suspicious-looking skin marks. Save these pictures and during your next skin exam, check your skin for any changes against the photos you took.

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For more youthful knee joints — or anything that bends — consider what’s in your kitchen.

These six foods could be your best medicine: berries, ginger, avocado, flaxseeds, omega-3-rich fish, and soy. Research shows they help stifle joint-damaging inflammation, according to John La Puma, MD, author of ChefMD: The Big Book of Culinary Medicine.

On Your Menu
Try this joint-friendly daily meal plan: whole-grain cereal or oatmeal with berries for breakfast, a turkey and avocado sandwich or a soy burger for lunch, a handful of walnuts or flaxseeds for a snack, and wild salmon or tilapia for dinner.

More Picks (and Pans)
Some other diet do’s — and don’ts — from La Puma:

Make a fruit bowl . . . with orange and grapefruit chunks. Vitamin C can thwart cartilage loss and slow osteoarthritis progression.

Sip tea. It’s chock-full of anti-inflammatory compounds

Nix red meat, and skip the sugary and starchy stuff. Proinflammatory substances in these foods — like saturated fats in red meat — could spur joint pain or make it worse

Make this Asian Salmon with fresh ginger for extra anti-inflammatory action.

Asian Salmon
Ingredients
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
4 (3-ounce) salmon fillets with skin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3 green onions, chopped

Directions
1. Combine the ginger, curry powder, and pepper and rub the mixture onto the flesh sides of the salmon.
2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet until the pan is moderately hot.
3. Add the garlic and cook until it’s golden brown.
4. Place the salmon skin side down in the pan and cook, covered, for 5 minutes.
5. Turn the fish and cook, covered, for another 2 minutes.
6. Add the green onions and cook for about half a minute.

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When your mind is in need of honing, head straight for the produce aisle. And give your brain a bowl of cherries.

This yummy summer fruit is chock-full of anthocyanins, potent compounds that may guard against brain-cell death, so you’ll stay tack sharp.

Neuron Armor
Cherry phenolics, particularly anthocyanins, appear to protect brain cells from neurodamaging oxidative stress — the kind seen in Alzheimer’s disease. Sour cherries may be particularly protective; it’s thought that they may have higher anthocyanin amounts than the sweet kind. But concentrations vary widely among different varieties. (Here’s another way cherries help you stay young.)

All in Your Head

No matter what your age, you can do plenty to keep your mind at peak performance. Start with these tips:

Give your synapses a good workout.

Test your brainpower.

Feed your mind.

Assess your risk.

Cheers for Cherries
Health-promoting compounds in cherries could one day help downplay diabetes.

Early research indicates that anthocyanins — compounds that give cherries their bright red hue — may help boost secretion of insulin, a hormone important for blood sugar control. Additional sources of anthocyanins include blueberries, raspberries, and other produce with red, blue, or purple hues.

More research is needed to confirm the link between anthocyanins in cherries and insulin secretion. In addition to potential implications for blood sugar control, anthocyanins also may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. If you have diabetes or insulin resistance, keeping your blood sugar under control is a top health concern. Proven methods of controlling blood sugar include eating low-glycemic index foods and exercising regularly. Some people also need to take insulin regularly. Follow your healthcare provider’s advice.

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Who wouldn’t want to feel more energized and have a smile on their face all day?

But short of popping some “happy pills,” it seems there’s no easy way. Until now. Enter yoga.

Yep, some simple yoga-style stretches and poses could do the trick. People who did them for 5 weeks reported a lift in their moods and more spring in their steps.

Positive Poses
A type of yoga that focuses on mood-boosting poses seemed to be particularly helpful in raising spirits in a recent study. In fact, people’s moods not only generally improved about halfway through 5 weeks of doing Iyengar yoga, but posers also felt a bit better after class, too. Talk about instant gratification.

More Ways to Smile
If yoga doesn’t fit into your feel-good plans, try one of these better-mental-place lifestyle changes:

Put on your walking shoes. You could start to feel better after just 30 minutes of hoofing it.

Think fish, nuts, and flaxseeds.

Indulge in a snooze. Skimping on sleep opens the door to blue moods.

Don’t lose that loving feeling. Uh, huh.

Finding Your Place on the Mat

You don’t have to jump up and down like you’re on a pogo stick to get fit. There are kinder, gentler ways to exercise, and these methods hail from the East.

Many recent studies have shown that certain exercises originating in Eastern cultures can offer just as many physical and psychological health benefits as the more vigorous exercises that often dominate Western workouts. Even better, these Eastern exercises tend to be easier on the body. For example, the gentle art of t’ai chi exercise not only can help build muscle, but it has been shown to help reduce arthritis symptoms and improve your balance.

Whether your goal is to reduce stress, make your muscles strong and flexible, or boost your weight loss efforts with extra calorie burning, according to recent research you can find what you’re looking for in Eastern-influenced exercise disciplines, such as yoga, t’ai chi, or Qigong.

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Your blood sugar will be sure to salute you this Weekend if you grill up some of this: eggplant.

Purple-skinned eggplant is full of phenols that help your body better use blood sugar. And that’s great, because you don’t need extra blood sugar running around. Too much in the bloodstream could wreak havoc with your organs. But that’s not all eggplant’s
got . . .

More Phenol Superpowers
In addition to favorable effects on blood sugar, eggplant’s supercharged phenols may also inhibit an enzyme tied to high blood pressure. Plus, the phenols have antioxidant actions.
Go purple power!

Ways to Do Eggplant Right
Yup, eggplant sure is one heck of a disease fighter — and it’s quite versatile to boot.

Don’t miss my articleKiller Eggplant over Edge Boston.

In the article, I give all the additional health benefits, types of cancer that Eggplant helps beat and how cholesterol is defeated.

Here’s a recipe for Grilled Eggplant Panini:

Grilled eggplant is one of life’s simpler pleasures: creamy and rich. Look for medium-size, purple eggplants with firm skins and no mushy spots. This end-of-summer treat will be even tastier if you can find the vegetables at a local farmstand—or in your own backyard!

Makes 4 sandwiches

ACTIVE TIME: 35 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
8 1/2-inch slices eggplant (about 1 small)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
8 slices whole-grain country bread
8 thin slices fresh mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup sliced jarred roasted red peppers
4 thin slices red onion

1. Preheat grill to medium-high.
2. Combine mayonnaise and basil in a small bowl. Using 1 tablespoon oil, lightly brush both sides of eggplant and sprinkle each slice with garlic salt. With the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, brush one side of each slice of bread.
3. Grill the eggplant for 6 minutes, turn with a spatula, top with cheese, and continue grilling until the cheese is melted and the eggplant is tender, about 4 minutes more. Toast the bread on the grill, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
4. To assemble sandwiches: Spread basil mayonnaise on four slices of bread. Top with the cheesy eggplant, red peppers, onion and the remaining slices of bread. Cut in half and serve warm.

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